Crafty Wednesday – more silk creations

In my post, Crafty Wednesday – Something new, I described how to paint on silk and use the painting in a card. Today, I will show you a few more silk paintings that I have completed for some very special people.

Above is the finished product containing the silk-painted penguin family I started in the demo. I used one of the mid-sized dies from the Labels Eight set by Spellbinders to cut out the centre window of the card base and a slightly larger one to cut out the blue window. (I like the Spellbinders dies because you can place them anywhere you like.) I taped the penguins to the back of the card front so that they were centred in the window, trimmed off the excess material, then placed a piece of white card stock over them so the silk was completely covered, securing it with Sookwang. The blue label piece that was left over from the process was used for the inside sentiment, along with a smaller piece die-cut from white card stock. The front sentiment was stamped on 1/2 a small label. (The sentiments were from the Close To My Heart Polar Bear Holiday stamp set.) I stamped all the blue pieces with snowflakes from the Inkadinkado snowflake stamp set and Versa Mark then heat embossed them with clear white embossing powder. 

 

 

I found a pattern for a poinsettia (Scrapbooks etc, Winter 2002) that I thought would be about the right size for a silk-painted card feature. I picked up some red, green and gold paint I thought was the right kind for dying the silk. It turned out to be a much thicker consistency than I expected so it didn’t look exactly like I thought it would, but the colours were more vibrant than the dyes would have been, so I’m not too unhappy with it. This time, though, instead of cutting a window into the card base, I cut out the red-plaid background with a 3-1/2″ scalloped circle punch, then placed the painted silk between it and the card base, securing the silk & the background with Sookwang double-sided tape.

The last card design was from a book I’d bought years ago, Making Christmas Cards by Judy Balchin (Search Press, 2005). The instructions basically said: “Place the silk into a bowl of water, squeeze out the excess and scrunch up the silk into a ball. Over a sheet of plastic, dab on the silk dyes to create a tie-dye effect. Lay silk flat out on the plastic and let dry.”

I photocopied the tree image from the book, as instructed, and used it as a guide under the silk to apply coloured glitter glue. Once the glitter glue was dry, I measured out the size of the backing, wrapped the silk picture around it and secured the edges with Sookwang. I cut out blue card stock that was 1/2″ larger on all sides than the matted image. I added all that onto a snowflake patterned paper cut 1/4″ smaller than the base card and added the ‘Noel’ sentiment. I’ve never been crazy about using glitter glue on my projects because it always seems to remain a little tacky, even after drying for days, but it does look pretty, don’t you think?

So, there you have 3 cards with silk-painted images added to cards using three different methods. 🙂

Since next week is Christmas Day and the following week is New Year’s Day, I will not be posting another ‘Crafty Wednesday’ for a couple of weeks. If I find time to post more Christmas card pics, I might do it on other days, though, so pop by over the holidays, if you aren’t too busy celebrating! 🙂

In the meantime, I hope everyone enjoys whatever special days you celebrate during the next few weeks. 🙂

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Crafty Wednesday – more Blue Christmas

The crunch is on! I’ve been getting cards ready for the mail, writing letters about our year, and printing off pictures of the Grandson to send with the cards, which I hope to get to the post office today. I may already be too late getting the two across the sea to my cousins, but at least the thought was there! Anyway, I’ve got a couple more cards in blue to show you.

I found this cute penguin stamp at Michael’s and fell in love with it. I stamped/embossed it in black and filled in the image with markers, this time, to get the more vibrant colours I wanted. I glued on some cotton batting to the fluffy collar and hat trim areas, with mini pompoms on the hat ends. After cutting out the image, I placed them on a 3-1/2″ scalloped circle embossed with the D’vine Swirls plate & the Cuttlebug. I also embossed the base card, added some snowflake ribbon and tacked on the sentiment, stamped onto velum, with two white brads. Inside, I covered the brad backs with snowflakes, added the simple sentiment and stamped/embossed snowflakes (from a tnowflake stamp set byInkadinkado) directly onto the card using Versa Mark & white embossing powder with a bit of glitter.

I ordered the stamp for this card from Stampin’ Up at the end of the season, last year, and finally had the chance to use it. It’s a bit more complicated, needing a lot more painting than some of the other stamps I’ve used but I love the whimsy of all the children gathered around Santa and the sentiment that came with the set. I embossed the base card with the swirls, glued on some blue glitter and added a bit of ribbon. Inside, I stamped the sentiment (from the Polar Bear Holiday set from Close To My Heart) & cut it out using an oval stencil. I placed it on the oval die-cut I made, using the middle-sized Beaded Ovals (Nestibilities) by Spellbinders, which I sponged lightly with blue ink. I added a few stamped/embossed snowflakes, also from the Polar Bear Holiday set.

Next week, I should have a few more of my painted-silk card creations, so stay tuned! 🙂

Crafty Wednesday – masculine cards

Welcome to another Crafty Wednesday! 🙂

With all the pretty paper, stamps and embellishments on the market today, it can be difficult to find something masculine for the men in your life. That’s why I thought I’d focus on them, today. Last time I was at The Scrapbook Cottage, they were having a paper sale, so I picked up some more masculine paper with a camping theme. I thought this striped paper from the 12 x 12″ ‘Camp-A-Lot’ collection by Bo Bunny Press would be perfect for some cards I had in mind. I loved the paw and footprints that were in some of the wider stripes.

The base for this card is beige card stock, cut so that the card dimensions when folded are 5-1/2 x 4-1/4″. I cut the striped paper to 5 x 3-3/4″ and attached it to the base. I added some felt animal stickers that I’d picked up somewhere along the line. Dollar Store, maybe? I can’t remember. Anyway, they were perfect for this outdoorsy-type card. All the black heat-embossed sentiments are from Close To My Heart’s ‘Pure Adventure’ stamp set.

Inside, I cut a 3-1/2″ scalloped circle with my paper punch out of my 6 x 6″ ‘Weekend Market’ paper pack, also by Bo Bunny. Onto this I added the sentiments. The ‘Happy Birthday’ is from Stampin’ Up. The stamp can be found in either the ‘Plane & Simple set or the ‘You’re My Type’ set. The ‘Kitty Cat Paw Border’ stamp is from INKADINKADO and can be found here, although I found mine at Michael’s. It’s a fairly simple card to make and perfect for the outdoorsman in your circle of friends and family.

 

Here are two more masculine cards, using buttons and twine. Everyone has buttons lying around, so this should be easy for you, too.

Using the Bo Bunny striped paper again, I cut it to measure 5 x 3-3/4″ and cut beige card stock the same dimensions as the previous card for the base.

Hint: Before attaching stuff to the front of this card, emboss the inside (see below) by running the ‘Moroccan Screen’ embossing folder and your card base through the Cuttlebug. I thought of embossing it after the front of the card was done and broke one of the buttons because of the pressure of the rollers. Then I had to glue on a replacement button.

Before attaching the striped paper to the base, wrap twine around it three times and slide on three buttons, placing them so they line up with the largest of the three in the centre. Make sure you use a strong adhesive like Sookwang to hold the twine and the paper in place.

The light brown label was cut out using the ‘Fanciful Labels’ cutting/embossing folder and my Cuttlebug. I stamped the ‘Happy Birthday’ (by INKADINKADO) using my Versa Mark and black embossing powder, which I then heated to produce the desired effect. Since the lettering was just an outline, I painted in the centre of each letter using my shiny paint set and a very fine brush. The label was attached with 3-D sticky tape and slipped underneath the twine so that some of the striped paper s visible on the right-hand side. Sticky Dots can be used to hold the buttons in their desired places.

The inside of the card is fairly simple. I cut a rectangle out of contrasting card stock (approximately 3-1/2 x 2-1/2″) and trimmed the corners with my ‘Ticket Corner’ punch by Stampin’ Up. I printed out the sentiment with MS Word (I usually set the page to 3 columns so the width is the right size). I cut it to fit the frame and trimmed the corners with the punch. Everything was attached with a glue runner since there wasn’t much weight to any of the elements.

 

This card is very similar to the previous one, except I used wooden buttons and made sure this nature-lover could see the paw and hoof prints in the paper. The base was cut the same size as the others using a camel-colored card stock.

I also discovered a new technique that could be done with the cutting/embossing folder. Before removing the label from the folder, once it’s cut out, the embossed portions of the label are exposed. You can then brush an inked sponge over the exposed portions to create the outlines. It brings out the raised parts quite nicely, don’t you think? I stamped the sentiment (same stamp as before) but instead of heat-embossing it, I just used the same brown ink I’d used on the outlines.

The inside is similar to the previous card, except for the sentiment. I cut out the contrasting card stock so it was an inch larger than the sentiment. I added the paw prints across the bottom corner to coordinate it with the paper on the front. I used the same brown ink as on the front of the card.

And there you have it – three simple masculine cards, each one slightly different, each one unique.

 

Hope you enjoyed this week’s projects. These cards would be easy enough for a beginner to try, so if you’ve been thinking this is a hobby you’d like to explore, why not start with a pattern similar to these? Happy crafting! 🙂